Sunday, 29 July 2012

Sci Fi Sub War meets Silent Death - Part 4

This post is partly to show the mega-cheap EM4 Silent Death spacefighter models I plan on using as my "fighter subs":-

Total cost - $14 - or 30c each

Coming with bases included $3.50 for 12 is not bad. They are quite crisp sculpts with no flash and only faint mold lines. I have given them rather bland grey paint schemes as modern naval vessels AND aircraft seem to be grey as their uniform colour regardless of nationality.

Some sculpts are more sub-like than others - the smaller models on the left are quite plausible.

The second reason was to "put out there" the damage system I could use for this (I could also see it suiting a space fighter game) - ergo:

FIRING

Both
sides add a d10 to their piloting roll, and add any modifiers. If the defender
wins, the shot has missed. If the attacker wins, the shot has hit. Make sure
you note the "margin of success" if the attacker wins as this
influences the damage.

Attacker Modifiers

Defender Modifiers

+ if fighter more agile

+ accuracy/tracking
of weapon

Firing
into target rear +1 (also parallelling target)

Firing
at head-on target +0

Firing
into target side -1

+ if fighter more agile

+ range
modifiers

DAMAGE

Fighters have a "Defence" attribute which is
armour and structural ability to absorb damage.

I simply drybrushed 2 shades of grey over black undercoat to pick out detail. Yeah, it probably needs squadron markings and detailing like weapons but I only had an hour before tea to do all 50...

DAMAGE TYPES

Shocked = no major damage
- glancing or superficial hits; for next turn -2 to all rolls. Shocked results
are not cumulative (i.e. you can be "shocked" only once per turn) but
they do stack with modifiers caused by damage

Damaged = this takes several forms. See if the damage roll was odd or even.

Destroyed =
"Kaboom"

Odds Hull = this is damage to the fighting capacity of the fighter
or ship; and may include damage to cockpit, weapons and sensors

Evens Thrust = this is engines or ship thrusters and impacts the
mobility of the ship

1st hit = -2 to all rolls; halve weaponry, sensors, ECM

1st hit = -2 to all rolls; halve thrust

2nd hit = ship breaks up; pass pilot skill check to eject

2nd hit = ship drifts; pass pilot check or reactor explodes

For simplicity's sake a fighter will have 2 profiles; a
normal and a damaged one.

Why I like it:
You only need 2 markers (one for hull, one for engines) - simples!

Why I might change
it: People might like more descriptive "criticals"

This combat system would work well with a d10+addons mechanic; for example opposed rolls could use a similar mechanism where d10+pilot skill is contrasted to d10+pilot skill. Having a similar mechanic for all rules actions makes a ruleset more coherent and "fluent" - as opposed to new random rules and mechanics for every area *cough* Two Fat Lardies *cough*

I also like the fact the margin of success when you hit also impacts the damage roll - a "good" or well-aimed shot will do more damage than a glancing shot.